


Forfeit

by imaginary_golux



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Card Games, Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-16 12:48:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29576373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginary_golux/pseuds/imaginary_golux
Summary: It turns out Stormtroopers don't learn how to play cards...they learn how tocheat.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Finn
Comments: 13
Kudos: 114
Collections: February Ficlet Challenge 2021: Apocalypse No





	Forfeit

Poe looks at the cards in his hand and sighs. “So,” he says, putting them facedown on the table and eyeing his opponent ruefully, “let me guess. Stormtroopers learn to count cards.”

Finn blinks at him, looking rather baffled. “As opposed to?”

“... _Not_...counting...cards?” Poe says.

Finn stares at him in silence for a long moment, and then says, very warily, “So you _weren’t_ losing on purpose?”

It’s Poe’s turn to be baffled. “No. I was definitely not losing on purpose.”

“Oh,” Finn says, face falling. Poe winces - Finn should never look so crestfallen, but Poe’s not sure what he _did_. “I’m sorry, I - I misunderstood, I’ll just - go -” Finn starts to stand

Poe’s hand darts out to catch his wrist. “Whoa whoa whoa, hang on, buddy. I don’t want you to leave.” Finn settles back into his chair, looking ready to flee at any moment. Poe loosens his grip but leaves his hand resting gently atop Finn’s arm. “It sounds like we’ve hit another of those little cultural misunderstandings,” Poe says, as soothingly as he can. “How’s about you tell me what you _thought_ was happening here, and we can get that straightened out?”

Finn swallows hard and licks his lips. “In - in the barracks,” he says slowly, “if someone was losing on _purpose_ \- you’ve gotta understand, we couldn’t just _say_ things, yeah?”

Poe nods. From Finn’s stories, he has gathered that Stormtrooper society is made up almost entirely of unspoken or surreptitious attempts to be _people_ despite the best efforts of their masters, but because of its hidden nature, they almost never say anything straight out. Plausible deniability is apparently the name of the game.

“So. If someone...wanted to _offer_ something - a forfeit, we called it - they’d lose on purpose. Um. Really _obviously_ on purpose.”

“Which was easier to tell, because if _everyone_ is counting cards and then someone stops…” Poe prompts gently.

Finn nods. “Exactly.”

Poe considers this. “So, uh, what...what did a forfeit generally consist of?”

Finn shrugs. “Sex.”

Poe’s jaw drops. Finn tenses, and Poe tightens his grip on Finn’s arm again - not enough to keep him if he really _wants_ to leave, but enough to hopefully prevent him from thinking _Poe_ wants him to leave. Poe just...needs a moment. He’s been trying to figure out if there’s a good way to seduce Finn for _weeks_ now, and apparently one has just been dropped into his lap.

“I see,” he says at last, and lets go of Finn’s arm to pick his cards back up. “Well then. I suppose we’d better finish this game, hadn’t we.”

Finn’s eyebrows go up. “Wait. You - you want to finish the game?”

Poe meets Finn’s eyes squarely and licks his lips, inwardly delighted when Finn’s gaze flicks down to follow the movement. “Well, how else am I supposed to lose badly enough to owe you a forfeit?”

Finn’s eyes go very big. “Oh,” he says faintly, and then, slowly, his lips curve into a soft and joyful smile.

He picks up his cards.

Poe loses very, very badly indeed.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the FFC prompt "Game Over," and beta'd by my delightful Best Beloved, Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw.


End file.
